NY State Senate Bill 2019-S742

Senate Bill S742

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Authorizes a sentence of conditional discharge pending completion of a substance abuse treatment program for first and second time drug possessors

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Crime Victims, Crime And Correction Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 08, 2020	referred to crime victims, crime and correction
Jan 09, 2019	referred to crime victims, crime and correction

co-Sponsors

2019-S742 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A4050
Current Committee:: Senate Crime Victims, Crime And Correction
Law Section:: Executive Law
Laws Affected:: Add §249-a, Exec L; amd §390.30, CP L; add §60.14, Pen L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2009-2010: S1270, A1677
2011-2012: S1508, A4841
2013-2014: S1870, A2662
2015-2016: S982, A1642
2017-2018: S4484, A3612
2021-2022: A2341
2023-2024: A1656

2019-S742 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Authorizes imposition of a sentence of conditional discharge pending the completion of a substance abuse treatment program licensed by the office of alcoholism and substance abuse services and approved by the division of probation and correctional alternatives for first or second conviction of certain controlled substance possession or marihuana possession offenses provided such offender has no prior violent felony convictions.

2019-S742 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S742

SPONSOR: MONTGOMERY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, the criminal procedure law and the
penal law, in relation to authorizing a sentence of conditional
discharge pending completion of a substance abuse treatment program for
first and second time drug offenders

 
PURPOSE:

To provide the sentencing option of drug treatment to judges who must
sentence certain non-violent, low-level drug offenders.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends the Executive Law by adding a new section 249-a which
directs the State Director of Probation and Correctional Alternatives to
enter into agreements with residential treatment providers to provide
for the treatment and care of drug offenders who are sentenced to

substance abuse treatment pursuant to Penal Law g 60.14.  These programs
must be licensed by the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse
Services and must be approved by the Division of Probation and Correc-
tional Alternatives.

Section 2 amends the Criminal Procedure Law § 390.30 to provide that a
pre-sentence investigation report shall include a listing of available
licensed substance abuse programs to provide treatment to offenders who
are eligible under Penal Law § 60.14.

Section 3 amends the Penal Law to add a new section 60.14, which author-
izes a sentence of conditional discharge, provided that the offender
agrees to attend and successfully complete a substance abuse treatment
program specified by the court. Eligible offenders are those persons who
stand convicted of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the
5th and 7th degrees, or criminal possession of marijuana in the 3rd
degree, who have no more than one prior conviction for such an
offense,and who have no prior history of violence.

The court retains jurisdiction over the individual while lie or she
undergoes treatment. Upon successful completion of the program, the
charge is dismissed. If the program is not successfully completed, the
conditional discharge is revoked and the offender is sentenced as if
convicted of the original charge.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

New York State's drug laws are not cost effective because they have led
to prison overcrowding without enhancing public safety, and because they
have led to dramatic increases in prison spending. These laws are ineq-
uitable because they hurt minority communities, and they are unjust
because they don't distinguish between a one-time drug offender who is
simply acting as a "mule" and a "drug kingpin."  Drug abuse is a terri-
ble evil that has destroyed many lives. but the failure of the law
enforcement approach of the so-called "War on Drugs" is evidenced by the
many thousands of non-violent drug offenders in our prisons, while drugs
continue to be sold and used in our communities.

New York must return to its justices the flexibility and discretion and
sentencing that they once used to treat persons with drug problems as
individuals. "Lock 'em up and throw away the key" and prison
construction may be politically popular, but it is fiscally irresponsi-
ble to incarcerate non-violent drug offenders and destructive to the
communities that these offenders come from. A recent study published by
the Drug Policy Research Center of the RAND Corporation concluded that
long prison sentences cost more than drug treatment, and do less to
reduce drug consumption. The RAND study demonstrates that we can do more
to reduce drug-related violence and drug consumption by mandating treat-
ment rather than simply mandating long prison sentences.

This legislation is designed to implement an approach that treats drug
abuse as a public health problem as opposed to a criminal justice prob-
lem. It will permit the state to spend a fraction of that amount on drug
treatment programs. The savings can be used for many things, including
drug treatment prevention programs for children.  This bill targets
non-violent possession and low-level drug opportunity to sentence these
It does not alter the current and drug dealers.offenders who are charged
with simple drug sales, and offers the sentencing judge the offenders to
treatment instead of prison.  penalties for high-level drug possessors

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

1999-2000: S.3386 Died in Committee
2001-2002: S.1107 Died in Committee
2003-2004: S.1629 Died in Committee
2005-2006: S.1494 Died in Committee
2007-2008: S.2121 Died in Committee
2009-2010: S.1270 Died in Committee
2011-2012: S.1508 Died in Committee
2013-2014: S.1870 Died in Committee

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Undetermined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act will take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it
shall have become law.

2019-S742 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    742
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 9, 2019
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  MONTGOMERY,  COMRIE,  KRUEGER  --  read twice and
   ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on
   Crime Victims, Crime and Correction
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend the executive law, the criminal procedure law and the
   penal law, in  relation  to  authorizing  a  sentence  of  conditional
   discharge  pending  completion  of a substance abuse treatment program
   for first and second time drug offenders
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 249-a
 to read as follows:
   § 249-A. SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT ALTERNATIVE  PROGRAMS  FOR  CERTAIN
 OFFENDERS.  1. THE DIRECTOR SHALL ENTER INTO AGREEMENTS WITH RESIDENTIAL
 SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT PROGRAMS TO PROVIDE FOR THE CARE AND TREATMENT
 OF ELIGIBLE OFFENDERS SENTENCED PURSUANT TO SECTION 60.14 OF  THE  PENAL
 LAW.
   2.  SUCH  PROGRAMS  SHALL  BE LICENSED BY THE OFFICE OF ALCOHOLISM AND
 SUBSTANCE ABUSE SERVICES AND  SHALL  BE  APPROVED  BY  THE  DIVISION  OF
 PROBATION AND CORRECTIONAL ALTERNATIVES.
   3.  UPON  THE  SATISFACTORY COMPLETION OF THE COURSE OF TREATMENT, THE
 ELIGIBLE OFFENDER SHALL HAVE THE COURT IMPOSED SENTENCE  OF  CONDITIONAL
 DISCHARGE TERMINATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 410.90
 OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE LAW.
   §  2. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 390.30 of the criminal
 procedure law, as added by chapter 14 of the laws of 1985, is amended to
 read as follows:
   (a) The report of the pre-sentence investigation must contain an anal-
 ysis of as much of the information gathered in the investigation as  the
 agency  that  conducted the investigation deems relevant to the question
 of sentence.  WHERE APPROPRIATE, THE REPORT SHALL  INCLUDE  A  TREATMENT
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD03339-01-9

 S. 742                              2
 
 PLAN  INCLUDING  BUT  NOT  LIMITED  TO  A  LISTING OF AVAILABLE LICENSED
 SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS TO PROVIDE FOR THE CARE AND TREATMENT OF OFFEN-
 DERS SENTENCED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF SUBDIVISION  ONE  OF
 SECTION  60.14 OF THE PENAL LAW.  The report must also include any other
 [imformation] INFORMATION that the court directs to be included and  the
 material  required  by  paragraph (b) of this subdivision which shall be
 considered part of the report.
   § 3. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 60.14 to read as
 follows:
 § 60.14 AUTHORIZED DEPOSITIONS;  CRIMINAL  POSSESSION  OF  A  CONTROLLED
             SUBSTANCE.
   1.  THE  SENTENCE  OF  ANY  PERSON CONVICTED OF A VIOLATION OF SECTION
 220.03 OF THIS CHAPTER, CRIMINAL POSSESSION OF A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE IN
 THE SEVENTH DEGREE, SECTION 220.06 OF THIS CHAPTER, CRIMINAL  POSSESSION
 OF A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE IN THE FIFTH DEGREE, OR SECTION 221.20 OF THIS
 CHAPTER,  CRIMINAL  POSSESSION  OF  MARIHUANA  IN  THE THIRD DEGREE, FOR
 EITHER THE FIRST OR SECOND TIME WHO HAS NO PRIOR CONVICTION FOR  ANY  OF
 THE  OTHER PROVISIONS  OF ARTICLE TWO HUNDRED TWENTY OF THIS CHAPTER AND
 ALSO HAS NO PRIOR  VIOLENT  FELONY  CONVICTION  SHALL  BE  CONDITIONALLY
 DISCHARGED  PROVIDED  SUCH  PERSON  AGREES  TO  ATTEND, AND SUCCESSFULLY
 COMPLETES AN ALTERNATIVE PROGRAM OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE  TREATMENT  APPROVED
 IN  ACCORDANCE  WITH  SECTION  TWO HUNDRED FORTY-NINE-A OF THE EXECUTIVE
 LAW.
   2. THE COURT SHALL IMPOSE SUCH A SENTENCE ON THE  CONDITION  THAT  THE
 OFFENDER  PARTICIPATE IN A SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT ALTERNATIVE PROGRAM
 FOR A SPECIFIED PERIOD OF TIME AS DETERMINED BY THE COURT.
   3. UPON COMPLETION OF A COURSE OF TREATMENT, THE COURT SHALL TERMINATE
 THE SENTENCE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 410.90 OF  THE
 CRIMINAL  PROCEDURE  LAW.  IF  THE  COURT  DETERMINES  THAT THE OFFENDER
 ABSCONDED FROM THE SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT ALTERNATIVE PROGRAM OR THAT
 THE SENTENCE IS NO LONGER SUITABLE  BECAUSE  IT  ENDANGERS  THE  SAFETY,
 SECURITY OR ORDER OF SUCH TREATMENT FACILITY OR THAT THE OFFENDER OTHER-
 WISE VIOLATES THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE SENTENCE, THE SENTENCE MAY
 BE  REVOKED. UPON REVOCATION, THE OFFENDER SHALL BE SENTENCED IN ACCORD-
 ANCE WITH THE OTHER PROVISIONS OF THIS  CHAPTER  APPLICABLE  TO  PERSONS
 CONVICTED  OF  CRIMINAL POSSESSION OF A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE OR CRIMINAL
 POSSESSION OF MARIHUANA, AS THE CASE MAY BE.
   4. THE COURT SHALL CONDUCT AN ONGOING EVALUATION OF THE  PROGRAM.  THE
 COURT  SHALL  UNDERTAKE  STUDIES  IN  CONJUNCTION  WITH  THE DIVISION OF
 PROBATION AND CORRECTIONAL ALTERNATIVES, THE DIVISION OF PAROLE AND  THE
 OFFICE  OF  ALCOHOLISM  AND  SUBSTANCE ABUSE SERVICES TO ENSURE THAT THE
 PROGRAMMATIC OBJECTIVES ARE MET.
   § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
 it shall have become a law.

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Senate Bill S742

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Sponsored By

Velmanette Montgomery